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Confession – A Cleansing of the Soul

By Luciano Corbo

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

I attend the Sacrament of Reconciliation weekly or bi-weekly. Most of the time I may see a handful of parishioners at the confessional, yet when I attend Mass on Sunday, I see hordes receiving the Holy Eucharist. I do not want to judge my fellow parishioners, but the math simply does not add up. I can understand if I only went to confession once in a ‘Blue-Moon’ and missed my fellow parishioners attending confession, but I have been going to confession often and regularly for quite some time (often seeing the same parishioners), yet there are those that receive the Holy Eucharist who I have never seen at confession.

Perhaps they are perfect and sinless. I know I am not. That is why I go to confession very regularly. Reflecting on 1 John 8-10, I would say being sinless and perfect is not the reason why some of my fellow parishioners receive the Holy Eucharist without confession. Rather it is my opinion that some of my fellow parishioners believe that they have not committed any mortal sins so they could receive the Holy Eucharist. They may be thinking that a few occasional venial sins can be forgiven by our Lord.

I would argue that if you only allowed a few specks of dust to enter your home daily, eventually over time the specks would add up to heaps. Would one allow a guest into their home when there is dust everywhere? What would the guest say? Would they feel welcomed into this home? What if that Guest was Jesus Christ Himself? Now ask yourself, “What does Jesus see when He enters the home of my soul which I have prepared for Him.” Even small drops of water steadily hitting the same spot of rock, one drop at a time will, over time, erode the rock. Our soul works the same way. Those little venial sins will eventually burden our souls if we do not cleanse them away. They make us vulnerable to more venial sins and as the soul starts to get burdened, that is when Satan slowly makes his move. Ever so slowly. He did the same thing with Eve, causing her to doubt:

Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise? And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die. And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons. Genesis 3:1-7

When you fail to address your venial sins, you are not preparing your soul for a Holy visit from Jesus Christ, but preparing your soul for a visit from Satan…and he will come knocking. When you unwittingly open the door to answer the knock, like a pushy sales agent, he will slip his foot between the door and the door frame and slowly make his way into your home and pressure you until he has made a sale.

You see, the Sacrament of Reconciliation will bankrupt Satan and enrich Heaven.

God Bless

Copyright 2017, Luciano Corbo

Luciano Corbo

Luciano Corbo holds a Master of Arts - Integrated Studies from Athabasca University. His major interests are Culture, Work, Organizations and Leadership, within a context of Catholic Social Teaching Principles. He writes from Canada.